Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

Naval gun components produced in the UK during WW2

Discussion in 'Weapons & Technology in WWII' started by Graye, Mar 16, 2011.

  1. Graye

    Graye recruit

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2011
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    There is an element of clutching at straws in this posting but I'm hoping someone will start us off in the right direction in some research my cousin and I are doing for a book.

    We are looking at our great grandfather who was an engineer, needle and spring maker and inventor. So far, most of the information on this particular aspect of the story is based upon memories of elderly relatives or half remembered comments from the family members who would have been involved at the time.

    My greatgrandfather (I'll call him LAW for ease of reference) was based in Redditch and Studley, Worcestershire and Warwickshire respectively. He had made an agreement some years before (no idea of the date but probably in 1919 as he wound up one of his manufacturing companies that year) upon selling the rights to one of his inventions that he would not go into heavy spring production unless war broke out again. I'm not sure why the agreement was made as his main interest seems to have been needle and fish hook inventions, his only foray into other items were racing ice skate blades and an exhaust cooling system but from the patents filed I can see he was inventing all the time so it could have been something which did not reach the patent stage. He was working as a consultant for several local spring manufacturers in the lead up to WW2 too. However in 1939 he geared up and started spring production himself with a vengeance.

    The various snippets are:

    1. His premises at the Poplars and the Towers, Studley were guarded by Military Police day and night (The BSA factory was located just 4 miles away and according to "The Other War" by Donovan Ward they did contract out certain work locally although there are not that many details).
    2. His funeral was attended by a representative of the Admiralty (reported in the obituary which we hold a copy of)
    3. One of his sons regularly made deliveries at night to the Honeybourne airfield, about 15 miles away
    4. My mother, without prompting, mentioned Hurlikon ack-ack guns (so presumably she means Oerlikon or copies) and that they were making the recoil springs and barrel sleeves.
    5. There is also some suggestion that they (he and his two sons) made/invented a system which involved the initial bullet travelling down the barrel having some sort of properties which left the barrel coated and smoother. As I said earlier, this is just a lot of information gleaned from many sources but I do think there are definite germs sof truth which we would like to explore further.
    6. He became a wealthy man in this period and increased his workforce and premises significantly
    7. During WW1 he had been manufacturing spring loaded fuzes for the Munitions of War Ministry according to a letter we have thanking him for his service and discontinuing orders in November 1918.

    I've looked online at the various BSA & Oerlikon sites and it seems there is probably something here worth researching but have no idea where to look next. LAW died in late 1944 and although the factory ran until the end of the war there was much acrimony in the family and eventually all the businesses and properties were sold.

    Any pointers would be gratefully received.
     

Share This Page